Category Archives: gundam

With the new year comes a new project by the fine folks of absurdandobscure.com; a site driven by completely unoriginal content not unlike what you would find at a&o. Rather than writing new content, the new site will be a constantly updated collection of content provided by others. It is my esteemed pleasure to introduce to the world…mind-rot.com.

I’m excited about the new project/site/portal to nonsense that will cover the work of innumerable scourges of the Earth at as rapid of a speed as possible. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be excited about it either, especially if you frequent this poor excuse for a blog/site/sounding board of relatively disreputable schlock/sheer awesomeness.

As of today, mind-rot.com is obviously still in the process of becoming completed, but the finishing touches aren’t far off. I’ve wanted to get this thing together for months, but because of reasons too boring to go into, both the new project and a&o had to suffer. I’m sure you pulled through these past couple of months though…just a wild guess from the 13,000 views that absurdandobscure.com received last year. Speaking of, I want to sincerely thank every single person that checked this site out last year. We’re hoping things will be significantly different this year, especially when it comes to digging into the depths of the worst acting caught on film, the best hardcore bands you keep ignoring for the dumbest reasons, brain melting foreign oddities and other indescribably engaging ephemera.

So be sure to check out both sites whenever you get the chance…you never know what absurd and/or obscure stuff might get the honor of being uncovered.

If you’re already familiar with Super7, then you either already have this or want this really, really bad but you’re too much of a cheapskate to shell out the bread to call it your own. If you have no idea who or what the fuck Super7 is, here’s an abridged introduction: these maniacs have a rabid affinity for soft vinyl toys and toys in general that are weird/cool looking and/or are impossible to find. The Super7 team also has friends that are equally enamored with collecting. So enamored that I’m willing to bet that anyone featured in this book has treasure chests full of insanity that would put to shame any hipster’s paltry Dunny “collection.”

This is a quick, informative history of Japanese robot toys from the days of yore that you never had a chance to buy because you weren’t even born yet. Bullmark, Takara, Clover, Ark, Takatoku, Popy and other companies that you’ve never heard of are covered in Super #1 Robot. This book is made up mostly of incredible photos of giant robots taken by Tim Brisko, while the remainder of the book is made up of text (in English) that has been researched by giant robot nerd extraordinaire, Matt Alt. If you haven’t heard a thing about it, let me just say that this book is a great look at why these types toys and this genre in general has remained popular for more than a quarter of a century. My only gripe is that it’s on the small side – maybe a little smaller than your outstretched hand. Though realistically, how many other people besides robot dorks like myself would shell out twice as much money for a book that’s twice as big? I would guess not enough to warrant the production costs of a larger book. Too bad. Here’s hoping that Matt, Tim and friends team up to do another book like this.

You can flip through a few pages of Super #1 Robot at Amazon if the name and cover of the book aren’t interesting enough. A better example would be to go read some of what Matt Alt has written and to see some photos that Tim Brisko has taken.

instead of the single piece of gum that comes with it, I’d be a much happier nerd.

Unfortunately, this sofubi Rick Dom is inedible and only has two points of articulation (at the shoulders); but I guess that’s how candy toys work. I knew going into buying this that I was going to get almost no candy, but one piece?! Why even bother?

As far as the actual figure is concerned, so what if the paint’s far from incredible? I wouldn’t expect much from a cheap blind box candy toy. Besides, it was a lot cheaper than an HCM Pro figure and maybe even a little bit bigger.

All these scans are from the new Gundam: The Selection, a catalog in magazine form put out by Dengeki Hobby Magazine. Saying that it’s a catalog might be a little unfair, but this thing has a lot of info on the Gundam 00 (pronounced “double oh”) show, kits, toys and all the other newest non-00 Gundam stuff.

Also, for those Gundam fans that are both rich and on the go, you can now get an official Gundam cell phone and dock, and Gundam luggage. What’s funny is that all of it looks cool.

The site for the cell phone is pretty amazing. You don’t need to know Japanese to check it out either…just keep hitting the NEXT button. The page on the Lalabit site for the luggage however, is far less impressive.